Otago Daily Times reporters attended dozens of Anzac ceremonies across the southern regions, where former and current servicemen and women and their families remembered those who fought, and those who are still fighting in a bid for peace.
Dunedin
Throngs of people stood shoulder to shoulder and spilled into the street as the Dunedin dawn service began yesterday at 6.30am at the cenotaph in Queens Gardens.
Chaplain Leah Graff officiated at the ceremony and invited attendees to take a moment to "focus our hearts and minds to remembering, reflecting and renewing".
Guest speaker Brigadier Matthew Weston said more than 30,000 New Zealanders had made the "ultimate sacrifice defending freedom and our way of life".
"Such loss filled our nation with grief.
"It can be hard to fathom that after the experience of both world wars, there remain those who continue to use the most extreme form of violence to achieve their goals that are underpinned by beliefs that differ greatly from our own."
Strong winds caused it to rain acorns from a nearby oak tree at the Mosgiel Cenotaph, where a large crowd of about 1000 people showed up to Anzac Park.
Mosgiel RSA officiator Kevin Thompson said a lot of people worked hard to bring the service to Mosgiel residents each year and it had been a valiant effort. "It all went well, we’re all very happy."Brighton resident Colin Weatherall said the Brighton morning service attracted 200 people — the "largest seen in the past 10 years" — and the noon service at the Green Park Cemetery attracted a further 250 people.
Oamaru
Oamaru’s dawn service was a stark contrast to the town’s main service and parade at 10.30am, which was accompanied by howling winds disrupting wreaths and speakers.
About 1000 people attended the dawn service and hundreds attended the latter.
Speaking at the dawn service, Cr Jim Hopkins thanked attendees for coming, as they were asked to do.
"None of us are being asked what several thousand young New Zealanders were asked to do.
"We’re not being asked to feel what they felt.
"The tension, the fear, the shock of cold water as it came up to their chests.
"All we’re being asked to do today is to remember."
It was not just the world wars that we needed to reflect on, but also the bloody history of New Zealand’s colonisation.
"If we want to remember our country’s history, we need to start teaching all of it."
She acknowledged the realities of war and that our soldiers were not all good people, but that did not mean they should be forgotten.
Anzac Day was about remembering the suffering so it did not happen again.
Queenstown
Heavy rain did not stop Queenstown locals getting up early to pay their respects at the Queenstown dawn service yesterday.
Queenstown RSA president Phil Weil started his welcome address by saying, "I was going to say a warm welcome, but I suppose we will try our best".
The shore of Lake Wakatipu became a sea of umbrellas, as onlookers were treated to Simon Green performing You Raise Me Up before the service started, as "a treat for making the effort to come out".
Vice-president Peter Doyle said despite the rain, he estimated "a few thousand" people turned out, which was "impressive".
During the ceremony, Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Glyn Lewers recited The Ode, and Southland MP Joseph Mooney spoke of a family member who lost their life on Anzac Day, at Gallipoli.
In closing Mr Weil thanked the crowd for showing up in numbers.
"Those in Gallipoli would not have been worried by the rain. Standing in it today is a small sacrifice to make, to let their memory live on."
As dawn broke, the sun came out in full force in Arrowtown, making for a clear day in time for their commemorations.
Hundreds lined Arrowtown’s picturesque main street, as the service started with a parade from Athenaeum Hall to the cenotaph.
George was also lucky enough to wear his great-grandfather’s Spitfire pilot hat from World War 2.
Arrowtown RSA president Rosemary Chalmers was pleased with the turnout.
"It always makes me emotional seeing the crowd show up in full force — there has to have been at least 1000 people."
Wanaka
Wanaka's Anzac commemorations also began in pouring rain, but concluded with blue skies and sunshine, reminding hundreds of stoic attendees that service is an all-conditions commitment.
Returned and Services Association member and retired Navy Commander Lyal Cocks was the master of ceremonies at the series of Wanaka events.
Commemorations began with a miserable but short dawn service at 7am, followed by a community breakfast and then a moving civic service from 9.30am.
While people were indoors being comforted with food and togetherness, the clouds parted.
The service, led by Fr Martin Flannery of Holy Family Church, included poignant speeches by Mount Aspiring College head pupils Lottie Hunt, Daisy Sanders, Tim Sides and Zavier Taylor, all 17.
The college leaders shared family stories of service overseas and at home and the intergenerational consequences of trauma and injury.
Another highlight was the moving performance by the New Zealand Youth Choir, a 50-strong ensemble of some of the nation’s finest singers.
The fine weather convinced the crowd of about 300 to abandon their brollies and follow a services parade from the Lake Wanaka Centre to the Wanaka Cenotaph above the town.
During the parade, a single protester walked beside the marchers, shouting his concerns on a variety of mental health and personal topics. He was eventually removed by police.
Unfortunately, the wind was too strong at Wanaka Airport for aircraft to take off for a planned flyover.
Strong northwesterlies, showers and even the odd hailstone were not enough to deter hundreds from the Hāwea dam where the local service got under way at dawn.
With nowhere to hide from the elements, attendees pulled the hoods of their coats forward and listened to the words of lead speaker Sergeant Lorne Capell, who commended them for their commitment to attending.
The 30-minute service included a rendition of Hareruia by Hāwea Flat School pupils and a speech from guest speaker Major Michael Clulow.
Three shots of cannon fire echoed across the lake as bugler Jackie Hamilton played Last Post.
A crowd of more than 150 packed into the Tarras War Memorial Hall at 10am to hear the Upper Clutha Anglican Church’s The Ven Damon Plimmer officiate the area’s Anzac service.
Voluntary organiser Beau Trevathan said the decision to move the entire service inside in recent years had been to shelter the crowd from the noise and hazards of the busy highway just beyond the hall’s doors.
"The bugler thinks it’s wonderful.
"When it was raining this morning I thought, well everybody’s going to thank me for having it inside."
He said the service was well-attended by people of all ages in the Tarras community, but also received strong support from older generations who had since moved away from the area.
"They feel a connection to Tarras too and it’s good to see."
Central Otago
Hats flew and kilts tilted as wind battered early morning Anzac services in Central Otago.
At Millers Flat, it was all feet on deck at dawn as members of the Roxburgh Pioneer Energy Brass Band stood on music stands to prevent them flying away.
About 250 people heard local man Johnny Rae speak about his father George’s memories of World War 1 and read from letters he had sent home.
In Roxburgh, a similar number gathered in King George V Memorial Park to hear speeches and lay wreaths and poppies.
Central Otago District Council chief executive and former chief of the New Zealand Army Major Peter Kelly gave the address at the Alexandra service. The Anzac story was a strong as ever 109 years after Gallipoli, not in a jingoistic, nationalistic way, but in the spirit of sacrifice, he said.
Close to 200 people attended the Clyde dawn service, battered by strong gusts of wind.
Central Otago Mayor Tim Cadogan delivered the address and talked about treasuring the hard-won democracy we enjoy in New Zealand today.
The wild weather continued during the wreath-laying service later in the morning at the Clyde Cenotaph, where about 600 people were present.
Air Training cadets on sentry duty lost their hats but remained completely focused.
Alexandra-Clyde RSA president Kevin Harding said he had not seen such high numbers at services before.
Cromwell RSA president Denis Ryan said it was a brilliant turnout with more than 600 people attending the service in the grounds of the Cromwell Memorial Hall.
It was heartwarming to see Anzac services well-attended by families and young people, he said.
South Otago
A crowd of hundreds followed a pipe band from Clutha District War Memorial & Community Centre about half a kilometre to the historic cenotaph in Elizabeth St, Balclutha at dawn yesterday.
It was the traditional route, but the first time it had been used since the new civic centre had been completed.
A minute’s silence and bugler followed speeches acknowledging the sacrifice and sorrow of wars past and present, and Lt-col Baff read a new honour roll of 44 district servicemen uncovered by his research who were not recorded on Balclutha’s monument.
"... Peaceful coexistence will be always a better option — but it is inconceivable it will ever occur, given the nature of humankind and the personal traits of some corrupt and power-hungry leaders and politicians," he said.
"So we gather this morning to pay homage to our naval, army and air force personnel who fought and died, and those who returned."
He later joined 40 others to attend the first ever service at the brand new war memorial monument in Beaumont.
"We’ve always got together in paddocks here and there, and we’re very grateful to have this earnest and purposeful new monument to pay our respects at," Beaumont cemetery committee chairman Neville Hills said.
Services were also held at Benhar, Clinton, Dunrobin, Heriot, Kaitangata, Kaka Point, Milton, Lovells Flat, Owaka, Katea,Tuapeka Mouth, Taieri Mouth, Tapanui and Warepa.
Gore
In Gore, the weather was much drier and about a thousand people attended the 105th dawn service at the cenotaph, following a parade of ex-service personnel, service groups, Scouts and Guides, led by the Hokonui Celtic Pipe Band and official wreath bearers.
Royal New Zealand Navy Lieutenant-commander Chris Bone, who grew up in Gore, was the speaker at the Gore and Districts Memorial RSA breakfast after the service.
Lt-cmdr Bone said he used to attend Anzac dawn services in his early days, but yesterday was the first time in 19 years that he had been back.
"It’s always something I wanted to do.
"It’s a privilege to come back."
He attended the service when he was a member of the Gore Scouts and later when he was in his final years at St Peter’s College.
His memory from attending as a child was "being cold and not really knowing exactly what it was about at the time".
Invercargill
Unlike some other services, the rain managed to hold off until the dawn service was finished.
For Kahutaki Stirling-Boyles, it was about modelling an appreciation for the fallen for her tamariki — especially her great-grandfather Albert Victor Waetford, who was part of the Maori Pioneer Battalion, A Company and a second lieutenant.
Royal New Zealand Naval Reserve Lieutenant-commander Nigel Finnerty said the service was "really poignant" and it was a great opportunity to remember those who had served, as well as those who are serving overseas at the moment.
